So I took my S to Firestone to fit new Indy 500's in 225/255 sizing. The tech told me there were some issues with the caster on the right side. He stated he could not get it into spec and as you can see it was left at 8.3. He stated fixing the toe caused the caster to get out of adjustment. I'm not really sure what to make of it or what to do next. My car is an 06 with 78k miles and 10 matching VINS. I haven't replaced any bushings before and the tech stated nothing was seized. The car is lowered on HKS 20spec coilovers about 3/4" and I was carefull to measure to make the drop equal all around. I will double check that when i get home though. Also of relevance is that our roads in WV are BAD. I have hit more than a couple of OMFG cringe inducing potholes this summer. Should I take it to the stealership for a second opinion on the alignment or start looking for bent parts and bad bushings?

Thanks in advance

Jon

 

any reason l/h rear is 2.4 ,caster may get within spec if rear is more = to r/h. dont worry to much about caster.

 

You ended up with a lot of caster. Yes, adjusting any one adjustment (camber/caster/toe) will result in a change in other angles. They're all related. One has to "nudge" all the adjusters to get a good adjustment or overshoot one to account for the other.

But...did this person know what adjusters do what?

A lot of positive caster is probably a good problem to have. Both sides ended up way positive....so your subframe probably isn't shifted.

I think he was turning the caster adjusters to try and adjust camber, and vise versa....and probably didn't understand which adjusters primarily adjusted what.

What's up with the rear camber mismatch? Maybe he got the toe/camber adjusters mixed up back there too? Or maybe didn't bother trying to adjust camber?

 

Yeah...looking at the before/after....

Your steering wheel was probably off center to begin with, yeah?

The tech centered it and then probably didn't get how the adjusters worked and/or got frustrated and gave up.

Its confusing, though, because he like...didn't touch anything on the LH front except jacking the caster to the sky. Did he take the "before" measurement before centering the steering wheel? or? wtf...

Hate to assume that someone was lazy. So...frustrated is what I'll go with.

 

Hard to tell but around here he’s probably never touched an S2000 before. I’ll just take it to the dealership where it’s been done before and if they get it right I’ll go back and try for a refund.

 

Not sure Honda dealer is a good place either ,needs a recommend place from this site..But if your sure ,sounds like you have had good results in the past.

 

Mystified as to how he go so much LF caster while keeping the same LF camber and toe within 0.05 degrees! He coulda just left that corner alone...

My 0.02 on street alignment for handling, feel, and tire life:
Maximize camber and minimize toe at all corners. Or maybe limit rear camber to --2.0 to -2.5ish, but definitely maximize front camber. Caster is personal preference, most people seem to thing "more = better" but I prefer minimal caster. 5.5 - 6.5 degrees fine IMO...

 

Just took it to the Honda Dealer. Tech was a young guy who had owned a lowered S2000 before. He still couldn’t adjust the caster. Compliance bushings are fine too. Also said couldn’t get the rear camber under -2.2 on driver side. The car is only lowered 3/4 of an inch so I would think it should line up.

Now what should I look into?

 

Did he say why he couldn't adjust caster?

 

No. I did stand there while he turned the adjuster bolt and the caster barely moved back and forth from 8.4 to 8.7. What perplexes me is that the caster was at 6.6 on the rack at Firestone before the alignment pictured in the first post was performed. So why won’t it go back there?
I have google searched and found some mention of bent knuckles and LCAs. With the potholes around here that’s not unreasonable to consider. But if that were the case why was it ok before the first alignment?
Other than being beaten up on the roads around here, the car is a cream puff. No accidents and never tracked.